Late Nights With Cards
by Pisces
Summary: Wherein Neil tells a story about his dead aunt, Jane wins all his money, and Ryan takes a nap. Pointless, but writing it was rather nifty. Interaction between characters is fun!


Late Nights With Cards **Disclaimer:** Weeeell, I'm not quite sure on this one, but I _think_ Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within doesn't belong to me. I know, I know, don't cry. It's not such a bad thing. I'm sure the world will go on... Somehow.

**Author's Notes:** Okay, first thing you should know about this fic is it's not even finished. It's short, yeah, but so is every thing else I write, and it was just _sitting_ there in computer, looking so lonely. I don't even _like_ this thing very much, the atmosphere I was shooting for didn't pull off how I wanted it to. Buuut... the real 'atmospheric' part was going to be later, so I guess that's okay. It'll end up being a short, strange interaction between Neil and Jane, with slightly tense romantic undertones. That is, if I ever finish it. ::shrug:: Oh well. So is the life of a writer. But I just thought I'd share what I got so far. Have fun kiddies!

**Warnings:** None, that I know of. ::lip quirk:: My God, what's this world coming to?!

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**Late Nights with Cards**

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A Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within fan fiction by Pisces

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"Aw, crap! I lost _again!"_

Neil slammed his cards down and collapsed back into his chair, glaring across at Jane who, at the moment, was racking in the pile of money that had been steadily growing in the middle of the table top for the last five minutes. She paused long enough to give her fellow soldier a smug smile before collecting the last few dollars left and placing them with deliberate care onto the neat stack with the rest of her winnings beside her soft drink.

Ryan's deep chuckle floated softly over from where he was lounging on the couch on the other side of the room. "I told you not to play with her. Why'd you think I quit when I did?" He settled his large body onto the cushions and cocked an eyebrow at the pout Neil shot his way. "What? Don't give me that look."

Neil crossed his arms and sulked even harder at the black man, adding more lip and lowering the eyebrows for a more effective pout. "Why'd didn't ya tell me this _earlier?"_

The sergeant's response was sleepy and faint. "I _did."_

"Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly the most effective warning I've ever gotten." Neil lowered his much higher voice to try and match Ryan's, failed miserably, and parroted, "Hey man, I wouldn't play with her if I were you." He coughed, then continued in his usual tenor, sarcasm practically dripping, "Yeah, man, _great_ warning."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Neil, for most people, one's that aren't totally oblivious, that would have been more than enough. Deal the cards already!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," He complained, but did as she bid anyway, shuffling the cards clumsily while Jane looked on in amusement.

Finally, after a few silent seconds of futile struggling on Neil's part, Jane gave into her pity and gently took the deck from his hands, picking up the few that had fallen to the floor during his fight. Neil growled, but let her do it anyway.

"You know, I think you want me to deal just so you can see me squirm."

The muscular female continued to watch her hands work as she uttered nonchalantly, swiftly and surely slicing the cards in half and bridging them, the clacking of plastic hitting plastic filling the otherwise quiet room. "And you're completely right."

"Ah HA!" Neil exclaimed, punching the air in triumph. He turned to face Ryan, almost turning over, and simultaneously falling out of, his chair in his zeal. "Didn't I tell you? Oh yeah, I told you. I was _completely_ right. You owe me five bucks, Serge."

Ryan flipped over and buried his head into the backrest pillows of the sofa, mumbling a vague affirmative response back.

"Oh, ah, Neil?" Jane asked with suspicious casualness, catching Neil's wandering attention as she started passing out the cards. "Why is it that a man of such _obvious_ intelligence can't even touch a deck of cards without hurting himself and those around him in the process?"

Neil grabbed up the offered cards with more force than was really necessary. "Well, _Jane,_ you can't be perfect at everything. But, I am as close as you can get." He preened at his own compliments, running a hand through his slicked back hair and sending a few strands astray.

"If I was close enough, I'd smack you." The words were harsh, but the tone was light, and she made no moves to follow through with her threat. Looking down at her new hand, she suppressed a smile. After all, she was the poker queen. She would ruin her reputation if she showed emotion over a good hand. Glancing up quickly, she caught Neil's very noticeable grimace and mental cheered. Neil's luck with cards was definitely working with her tonight. Quietly, Ryan began to snore in the background.

The squad's resident pilot winced again when he took another peek at his hand. He laid down the cards and blew a few pieces of hair out of his eyes. "Have I ever told you about how my aunt died?"

"What? Why would I want to know how your aunt died?" It was a very apparent means of stalling, but Jane let it slide.

"Oh, yeah, this is a great story! See my aunt Grizelda, and I know it's a fucked up name so don't look at me that way, she died a few years back. She was like this, scientist type thingy…" He waved his hands about randomly. "I'm not quite sure what she was exactly."

"You don't even know what your dead aunt did?" Jane scoffed, and folded up her cards, taking a swig out of her coke can. "Jeez Neil, how insensitive can you get?"

"Yeah, well…" He trailed off and glanced down at the table, absentmindedly fiddling with the cards in front of him, running a thin finger along the edges and picking at the corners. _"…Anyway,_ she was a scientist of some type and she was outside the barrier in Las Vegas with a bunch of her scientist colleagues and whatnot. This preacher guy at the funeral said something about how she was helping to save man kind, but that one had been kinda boring and they didn't have any food and I always sleep through funerals anyway, so I didn't catch much of what they said. But I remember how she died, you see, 'cause it was just so _funny."_

"God…" Jane shook her head slowly. "Remind me to never expect compassion from you, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded and gave a slight smile, clucking his tongue lightly on the roof of his mouth. "I'll remember that. But I know she worked for this Dr. Sid guy, you know the one?"

"Dr. Sid?" She glanced away, eyes flicked over Ryan's sleeping form, and scratched the back of her head, short, dark hair spiking up where her fingers ran through. "Yeah, I've heard of him. Isn't he that man who invented the barriers?"

"Naw, I thought that was that other doctor, uh, whatsesname… Dr. Kachanskie or something."

"Well, whatever, she must have been pretty important."

Neil shrugged. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore, does it?" 

Jane froze in mid-drink, glaring over the top of the can at him. "No respect for the dead. Can we play now?"

"No, no, no! Not till I finish my story." As if to show what would happen if he didn't get his way, he stomped his feet a bit and gave a small whine.

Even Jane couldn't stand up to a full-fledge Fleming temper tantrum. "Okay, okay, tell your damn story. Grow up a little, will ya?"

Neil smiled triumphantly. "Okay, where were we? Oh yeah, outside the barrier. Okay, so she's outside the barrier and then suddenly she just falls over and breaks out in this convulsions and, okay, so everybody's freaking out. They thought she might have been having a heart attack but she was only 38. So they rush her to the nearest hospital and all the doctors there couldn't figure what was wrong with her. They were in such a hurry they completely passed going through the scanners. Lucky bastard."

"Neil!" Jane exclaimed aghast. "She _died."_

The youngest member of Deep Eyes actually looked offended. "She's still lucky! I don't care if she _did_ died or not. Now, can I finish my story without anymore interruptions?" He looked pointedly across the table at the female weapons expert.

"Sure, whatever."

"Good." He used one of his cards to run through his loosened hair, letting Jane catch a flash of a three. She smirked down into her drink; Neil had absolutely no luck with cards. 

"So she dies a few weeks later. She had been unconscious ever since she had been brought into the hospital. And then she dies on _life support_ there's this big upturn 'cause they still didn't know what killed her and they all think there's some new evil epidemic that's gonna start going around. But then finally some genius runs her body through the scanner. And do you know what they found?"

Jane waited for him to continue with her forehead resting in her palm, fingers gently massaging a temple and eyes following the wood grain on the table top. When the silence stretched longer then a momentary pause in conversation should have, she glanced up. "What?"

"And do you know what they found?" he asked again, staring at her expectantly. 

"Oh, uh… No? What did they find Neil?"

"A phantom. A phantom about the size of a cricket. It had burrowed into her body and slowly ate away at her soul." He stopped for a second, then burst out laughing.

Jane watched on incredulously, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.

Neil's laughter slowly died down when he realized she wasn't quite as amused as he was, but hiccupping little gasps forcing there way up still every once and a while as he tried to repress his giggles. "Wha? What's your problem?"

Jane sputtered, poise stiff with righteous outrage. "What do you mean, _my_ problem? What's _your_ problem?! What's so funny about your aunt's soul being eaten away bit by bit for weeks?!"

"Well, she was killed by a freakin' _cricket._ How pathetic is _that?"_ At the mere thought, he burst out laughing again.

"I can't believe you…" She sighed and let her mouth fall open once again. "I just can't believe you. Laughing about your own aunt dying like that."

Neil gasped for breath and wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "But it's just so _funny."_

"Now I know why I never take out in public. Let's just play the goddamn game now."

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Neil's dead aunt story was inspired by my sick and twisted humor. Sad thing is, I actually think that would be hilarious if it was true. And you'd think they would have given her a scan right off, wouldn't they? What with the phantom threat being so large and all that. Okay, so it was a plot hole! Get over it! ::slinks off to sulk::


End file.
